Sitting on the Baby
by xXxThe Phantom's RosexXx
Summary: Ziva’s niece comes to stay with her but when she is called away on the job, who must watch her?


Author's Note: This idea came to me earlier today and I have been craving to write it down, so here it is. I do not own NCIS or the characters in any way, shape, or form.

Summary: Ziva's niece comes to stay with her but when she is called away on the job, who must watch her?

Sitting on the Baby

"I am sorry, Gibbs, but she has nowhere else to stay. She is staying with me this weekend and I can't leave her alone, she is just a child."

"Ziva, I never said she could not stay with you. Just make sure that she stays quiet and out of my hair, alright."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome. Does she like to draw or color? I have a notepad in here somewhere," Gibbs began to rummage through his desk until surfacing with a legal-size, yellow notepad, "Let her keep busy with this, alright."

"What do you say to Agent Gibbs?" Ziva asked. The little girl looked up with shy, almond-eyes and smiled, "Well, to her, that's thank you. She is very shy, I am afraid I can barely convince her to speak more than three words."

"Well then I am sure she will not be any trouble," Gibbs smiled down at the little girl, "I hope you have a good time here."

She smiled again and Ziva mouthed another, "Thank you," to Gibbs as she led the little girl over to her desk.

"Alright," Ziva instructed, "This is my desk. You can sit here in this chair that I pulled up earlier. Gibbs was nice enough to provide you with paper and you have those crayons in your backpack, right? I have a lot of work to do today, so I won't be able to play but I promise, when we get home, I am all yours."

The little girl nodded and contently started drawing what appeared to be a unicorn. Ziva watched her out of the corner of her eye and smiled to herself, remembering once upon a time, long, long ago, she had sat at her father's desk and colored as he worked. It seemed too long ago.

"Gooood morning, probie!"

Ziva glanced up from her desk to see "very" Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo saunter over towards her desk with that big, goofy grin plastered onto his face, "Hello, Tony," she greeted.

"And who is this? Does Agent David have a daughter we were not aware of?"

"This is my niece," Ziva explained, "My sister wanted her to spend some time, with me, here in America. Her name is Lyra. Her plane landed last night and Gibbs has agreed to let her stay here today while I work."

"Hi, Lyra," Tony bent down and grinned at the little girl, "My name is Tony DiNozzo."

The little girl ignored him, and continued working on her drawing.

"She's shy…"

"See," Tony pointed towards Lyra, "That's exactly why I do not like kids! She better keep quiet and work on that…that…"

"It's a unicorn," Ziva smiled as Tony sputtered, "And she will not be any problem."

Tony eyed Lyra suspiciously as he headed over towards his desk. He had never liked kids, and in turn, they had never liked him. As long as Lyra kept her distance, they would both be safe.

"Aunt Ziva," Lyra pulled on Ziva's sleeve, "Why is he like that?"

Ziva almost laughed but quickly regained her composure, "Because, when Tony was born, he was born with a stick shoved up his…"

"Gear up!" Gibbs called, interrupting his agent, "We have a dead marine on our hands."

"Yes sir, boss!" Tony quickly stood, always too eager to be part of something.

"Not you," Gibbs pointed to the chair, "Sit. You are on desk duty because of that little stunt that you pulled last time."

"But boss, it isn't my fault that McGoober was standing a bit too close to the tazer…"

"Shut up, DiNozzo. You are to stay here, besides, someone needs to watch Lyra."

"But…"

"Come on, Agent David," Gibbs smiled, loving the fact that he could call the former-mossob agent that, "Let's roll."

"Will you be alright here with Tony?" Ziva asked. Lyra answered her by eying her suspiciously, as if saying:_ please do not leave me here with him_. "Well," Ziva announced gruffly, "you're just going to have to be. But I promise, it's just you and me tonight, okay?"

The little girl nodded, and Ziva, McGee, and Gibbs headed out the door. Tony glared angrily at Lyra as if it were her fault he was stuck there. So far, she hadn't bothered him much, and as long as it stayed that way, they would be fine.

"Look," Tony broke the silence, "I have a ton of paperwork to do so…just keep coloring, alright?"

Lyra didn't say anything, instead, she kept her head bent down, concentrating on her unicorn. Tony was beginning to grow frustrated – why right did she have to not answer him and just ignore him? She was too much like her aunt, and that was what angered Tony the most.

"Hey, are you just going to sit there and ignore me this whole time?" He demanded.

For an answer, the little girl hopped down from her chair and headed over to Tony's desk. She proudly handed over her drawing to him.

"What the he…heck is this?"

"Unicorn," the little girl smiled sweetly, "For you."

"Me? Why are you giving this to me?"

"Because," Lyra continued to smile, "I like you. And because you are funny."

Tony stared at the drawing in his hands. "For an eight year old, you're good."

"Thank you."

Tony looked at the stack of paperwork on his desk, and then towards Lyra, "You want a snack?" He asked. When she nodded, he motioned for her to follow. As they walked down the hallway, neither said anything to the other. Finally, they stopped at the vending machine.

"You want chocolate?" Tony asked, "All girls like chocolate."

"Am I meant to like it just because others do?" Lyra challenged.

"God, you're like your aunt! So what will it be, then?"

"Chocolate."

"But you…" Tony stopped himself, and jammed his fist against the side of the machine, forcing the Hershey's bar to fall. After handing to her, he couldn't help but think of how frustrating this kid was, just like Ziva. It was like she was looking for excuses to drive him crazy…just like Ziva.

"Thank you."

"Uh-huh. Come on, I got work to do."

"Mr. Tony?"

"Agent Tony," Tony corrected, "What do you want?"

"How long will Aunt Ziva be gone?"

It suddenly hit him that this little kid was bored. Here she was, shipped off to spend time with her Aunt, and then was forced to sit alone while her aunt went on an assignment. It wasn't fair to the poor kid, just like sitting and doing paperwork wasn't fair to Tony. Stupid McGee, backing up into the tazer gun…

"Well?"

Tony quickly left his thoughts and said, "I dunno, kid."

"I have a name."

"I know."

Lyra glared at him, but followed him down the hall and back towards the desks anyways. By the time she sat down at Ziva's desk, half the chocolate bar had disappeared.

"Agent Tony?"

"Yes?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Why?"

"Because I asked."

Tony wanted to string together a whole row of profanities but kept silent, except for an answer, "Red."

"Really? That's Aunt Ziva's favorite color too."

"How quaint," Tony didn't bother to hide his sarcasm.

"You know, Aunt Ziva and I are having a girls' night tonight. We will watch movies and pop popcorn and do each other's nails…"

"Ha," Tony laughed, trying to picture Ziva painting nails and watching Beauty and The Beast. He couldn't hide his amusement.

"You could come if you wanted."

"No thank you," Tony grunted, "I have more important things to do. Like, finish this paperwork if you'd shut up and let me."

Lyra's bottom lip stuck out and she turned away to hide her face. For some unexplainable reason, he felt a wave of guilt flush over him. He didn't mean to hurt her feelings…

"Hey…" he stood from his desk and walked over to Ziva's. He knelt down to Lyra's level and gave her the puppy-dog face, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Lyr. Hey…look at me."

Lyra forced her eyes from her paper and towards Tony.

"I have never been good with kids, alright? You gotta give me some time, okay. And for the record, you're the only kid I've ever actually…well, liked."

Lyra smiled, "Really?"

"Yeah. So, forgive me for being such a jackass?"

Lyra bit her lower lip, "Hmmm…"

"Do I have to convince you," Tony asked, playfully as he began to tickle the little girl. Lyra squealed and finally gave in.

"Okay, okay!" She giggled, "I forgive you!"

Tony finally stopped, gave her a light punch in the arm, and returned to his paperwork. As he was typing up the files, he and Lyra chatted lightly.

"So, you like your Aunt Ziva alright?"

"She's really cool, Agent Tony. I want to be like her when I grow up."

"Why's that?"

"Because she's cool, smart, and pretty."

"Annoying as hell though."

"Funny," Lyra smirked, "She said the same of you."

Tony eyed the little girl suspiciously. He didn't really know what to make of what she had just said.

"So…are you and my aunt going to get together?"

Tony practically choked on his own saliva, "W-what?"

"Are you and…"

"I heard you," Tony caught his breath, "Um…why would you say that?"

"Cuz," Lyra grinned, "You two are good for each other."

"What do you mean?"

Lyra only shrugged and went back to her coloring. Tony grumbled to himself but continued on his paperwork.

"Hey, Agent Tony?"

"Hmm?"

"You're pretty awesome."

"You too, kid."

About an hour later, Ziva, Gibbs, and McGee returned. Lyra leapt up and ran over to give Ziva a hug.

"I missed you, Aunt Ziva!"

"I missed you too, Lyra," Ziva smiled, kissing the little girl atop of the head, "I see that Agent DiNozzo is still fully intact, I hope."

Tony seethed with a sarcastic grin, "Good to see you too, Zi."

"Told you so," Lyra hissed under her breath, earning herself a glare from Tony.

"So, you survived alright?" Ziva asked him.

"Yeah," Tony grinned, throwing an arm around Lyra, "You got yourself a pretty nifty little kid here."

"Who says nifty?" Lyra asked, causing Tony to poke her in the side.

"Thank you," Ziva smiled at him, "I think so too."

"I invited him over for girl night," Lyra announced, "But he said no."

"Awww," McGee smirked, "What's wrong? Antonia didn't want to go to girl night? And here you've been saying you need a manicrue…"

"Shut up, McGobstopper," Tony growled, "Besides, you don't want me there. It's supposed to be a weekend for you and Ziva."

"But I want you there," Lyra insisted, "And so does Ziva."

Ziva coughed a little and Tony eyed her, "You do, Zi?"

"Well…maybe you can…stop by for a moment. If you have the time."

"For you, I can make time."

Lyra was practically brimming with glee as Tony and Ziva both blushed and adverted their eyes.

"Alright," Ziva smiled shyly, "I-I'll see you then."

"Sure. See you around, kid."

"I have a name!" Lyra jokingly pouted.

"I know," Tony smirked.

Ziva helped Lyra pack up her things and they left the bullpen. Gibbs was looking at Tony with a shocked look on his face.

"What, boss?"

"Who knew Tony DiNozzo had a soft spot for kids…"

"I-I don't."

"Keep telling yourself that, Tony," Gibbs clapped him on the shoulder, "But you know…she isn't the only one you have a soft spot for," he smirked as he headed up to Vance's office. McGee was sniggering from his desk.

"What did he mean by that?" Tony snapped.

"I think you know the answer to that," McGee grinned.

Tony rolled his eyes, eyeing the unicorn on his desk. For some reason, he could hardly wait for that evening.


End file.
